APA Academic Writeris a new online resource designed to assist in the application of APA style formatting rules.

Printing this guide: Please note printing directly from pages in this guide may alter the citation formatting display. A printable document is available below. Note that this document is adapted from this online guide and does not contain all information and examples. Please use it in conjunction with the online guide which is more regularly updated.

Hanging indent: Left align the first line of each reference with subsequent lines indented to the right to a width of
5 -7 spaces or 1.25 cm. Highlight the reference list then choose "CTRL t" (PC) or "Command t" (Mac).

All of the references in the reference list must also be cited in the text.

All references cited in text must also be included in the reference list (unpublished items, such as personal
correspondence, are an exception).

List the references in alphabetical order by author surname/family name according to the first listed author. (Note: the order of the authors on a document is important. Do not rearrange them).

Where there are two articles with the same authors and date, order the references alphabetically by article title and add a letter suffix to the year of publication (e.g. 2003a, 2003b...).

Provide organisation names in full, unless they are obviously recognisable as abbreviations (e.g. APA for American Psychological Association).

Do not add full stops to URLs (e.g. https://www.monash.edu/library/)

In an article, chapter or book title capitalize only the first word of the title and of the subtitle, if any, and any proper nouns. A proper noun is a person, place or entity. (Note: book titles should be italicised).

In a periodical, journal, or serial title, give the title in full, in upper and lower case letters. The title should be italicised (e.g. Harvard Business Review).

APA requires use of an en dash between pagination numbers. An en dash is longer and thinner than a hyphen. Type in an en dash, or if an en dash is unavailable on the keyboard, use a single hyphen. In either case there is no space before or after. We recommend consulting your faculty staff to determine their requirements.

Check the reference details against the actual source - you are indicating that you have read that source when you cite it.